Field Notes

7/23/17 I took my mother camping at Big Arm State Park for her 82nd birthday. The long dry grass in the area spoke to me of abundant growth from the winter snow and spring rain and now the dry time with many fires around Montana. It spoke to me of the wind and of the …

7/15/17 In the mornings, I walk barefoot outside to help my feet recover from a broken ankle (December). The last couple weeks, as I step on pokey pine needles on the ground, I have been pausing to photograph Ponderosa Pine needles reflected in the small ditch above our garden. It is a very different view …

7/8/17 Today the heat fills the air with a different kind of weight. This week we have been watching the young robins eating currents, the grosbeaks eating the cherries and just this morning a bear eating not quite ripe serviceberries. The bear was pushing the branches down to the ground to make it easier …

6/25/17 I walk the same paths nearly every day and sometimes I think that I will run out of things to photograph but there are infinite combinations in the light, time of year, weather, the variations of life forms and my point of view on any given day. This week I found many views of …

6/15/17 Outside the window the clouds are lead grey and the peonies bend their heavy heads from the weight of many wet days. I recently returned from a trip to California. Today the scruffy thin bear ambling through the yard helped me know I am home and far away from the many cars of the …

6/3/2017 A couple days ago I was walking along a hillside close to home around 7pm. Thunder was rumbling near me so I could hear it in my insides. I could see 40 foot swaths of pale yellow Ponderosa pollen blowing in waves through 100-foot-tall trees―streaming―undulating―pushed by the approaching rain storm. I could feel the …

5/27/17 I am still exploring reflections. ― Red Osier Dogwood branches vibrate lines across clouds and the sky blue ― On the other side of the ditch from this image Serviceberry petals were collected in the water. I didn’t notice the spider and bee until I downloaded the photograph. I am often surprised in …

5/20/17 I walked after the rain last night. The sky cleared and I moved through the sun bright layers of bird song, leaves and blossoms. The new greens of the Alder, Ninebark, Snowberry, Current and Chokecherry fill spaces that were bare a month ago. There is now a fullness―a density of green-ness―piercing―enveloping―moving―me. Nearly every day …

5/13/17 As I write I can see new snow in the mountains. It was 35 degrees this morning. The towering Chokecherry bushes outside the widow expand toward me with layers of spring-juice green leaves. The new depths of color feel rich and expansive in my body but I find I am still focused …